FloRida, Foucault

“The panoptic mechanism arranges spatial unities that make it possible to see constantly and to recognize immediately. In short, it reverses the principle of the dungeon; or rather of its three functions- to enclose, to deprive light and to hide- it preserves only the first and eliminates the other two. Full lighting and the eye of a supervisor capture better than darkness, which ultimately protected. Visibility is a trap” (97). Foucault’s reading seemed to be rather difficult. The article discusses ideas such as discipline, surveillance, and power relations. The panoptic mechanism is the ultimate invasion of privacy. In today’s world, we have the use of the internet, cell phones, and GPS systems. The ones, who contain all the power, keep watch over the public. All of these technologies are extremely helpful and useful; however, they allow us to put everything about us for the entire world to see…or at least our Facebook Friends. People know where we are and what we are doing at all times of the day. If we actually took a look at these technologies and their purpose we would realize they are a panoptic mechanism. We are cornering ourselves and making our personal lives completely public. Our privacy is significantly decreasing. Foucault tries to explain how constantly being watched causes us to be afraid to do something different than what the ideologies tell us to do. Our society has become so used to being watched, moderated, monitored and controlled. This is occurring on a daily basis. There are legal guidelines that define what is legal and what is illegal. We usually follow these guidelines. This directly relates to Althusser’s ideas about ideology and how we following not only out of habit but out of fear. Our fear is of punishment. Almost every aspect of culture that we are involved in contains a set of laws or guidelines. This includes schools rules, religious regulations, home rules, and rules set by the government. We choose to follow these rules even though in reality, we are not forced to follow some of them.